Prosper Portland leader to resign amid fractious budget fight

The head of Prosper Portland will resign, saying he was told to step down from the directorship or leave the agency altogether.

The move comes weeks after Interim Executive Director Shea Flaherty Betin publicly waded into

a contentious budget fight

that threatened millions of dollars in cuts to the city’s economic development agency.

Flaherty Betin, who earns an annual salary of $244,644, will relinquish his leadership role Friday. His last day with Prosper will be June 13, agency spokesperson Shawn Uhlman said.

“The directive has come for me to step aside from my role as interim executive director and return to a role focusing on economic development — or to step away from Prosper Portland completely,” Flaherty Betin said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive. “So, the Board and I have decided the best course of action is for me to part ways with Prosper Portland.”

Flaherty Betin did not indicate who delivered him the directive.

Mayor Keith Wilson told Prosper Portland Board Chair Gustavo Cruz that he wanted Flaherty Betin step down as interim executive director but remain with the agency in a lesser capacity, according to a city spokesperson.

“The Mayor would have welcomed Shea’s continued contributions at Prosper Portland,” said the spokesperson, Cody Bowman.

Cruz said when he relayed the mayor’s request, he made clear that he wanted Flaherty Betin to stay with the agency.

“I didn’t want to lose Shea. I was not encouraging him to leave,” Cruz said in an interview. “I didn’t try to push him out at all. In fact, quite the opposite.”

But as the two continued to talk, Cruz said, it became clear that Flaherty Betin was leaning toward leaving Prosper.

Members of the City Council were upset with his actions in the contentious budget season, Cruz said, and the interim executive director seemed to feel “awkward” in his position moving forward, with his ability to advocate effectively for the agency “now impaired.”

Lisa Abuaf, the current interim deputy executive director, will replace him, subject to the approval of Prosper’s five-member board of commissioners.

Prosper commissioners will consider

a resolution Friday

to appoint Abuaf as the interim executive director “to continue to assist in this transition period,” according to a copy of the resolution posted to the agency’s website.

“She’s very well respected in the community,” Cruz said.

City officials confirmed the reshuffle in a press release after The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported the news Wednesday morning. A candidate to become the agency’s permanent executive director has accepted an offer from Prosper, the city officials said, but is unlikely to start until the summer.

Flaherty Betin last month

slammed a proposal

by two City Council members — Jamie Dunphy and Mitch Green — to cut $11 million in general fund dollars earmarked for Prosper in the upcoming fiscal year. In an email obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Flaherty Betin urged supporters of the agency to lobby against the Dunphy-Green budget amendment,

which failed

in a subsequent meeting but could be resurrected before the council approves its final budget this month.

The episode represented an unusual and remarkably forceful rebuke by an agency head of two sitting City Council members. It also exposed an emerging fault line between Prosper and a crop of newly elected city leaders who’ve voiced skepticism of the agency’s work and semi-independent governance.

Unlike city bureaus, Prosper is supervised by its board of commissioners, which is appointed by Portland’s mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Some councilors have said they’d like to see economic development work in Portland fall under their direct oversight.

Flaherty Betin joined Prosper in 2019 after serving as the director of Portland Mercado for two years. He was named Prosper’s interim executive director in September.